AKEL MEP Giorgos Georgiou: “Sinful” Pegasus – It was eavesdropping on Macron and up to 15,000 citizens

 

22 August 2022, ‘Astra’ radio

The Israeli spyware firm NSO Group is a sinful company and knows full well to whom it sells PIGASOS and who it monitors, AKEL MEP Giorgos Georgiou stated to ‘Astra’ radio this morning, calling the resignation of its executive director a show. The facts, he said, were glaring, namely that those the company was selling PEGASOS to were engaging in illegal and suspicious actions, undermining democracy and attacking citizen’s privacy and personal data.

PIGASOS, he added, was following former Presidents, Emmanuel Macron, the former European Council President Charles Michel and many others. He noted that the allegations were made by 17 international mass media and an investigative centre from Canada.

The AKEL MEP wondered against whom the company would take legal action against.

In 2021 alone, the company was monitoring 15,000 citizens in Greece, G.Georgiou said, noting that PIGASOS was only purchased by governments. He predicted that a storm will break out in Greece during the investigation of the case which will also involve Cyprus as there are testimonies from the company itself from 2019 that it was operated by NSO in Cyprus and that from 2020 it was shut down and moved to Greece. There is, he said, admitted cooperation between the ruling DISY party and Mr. Avni, while Espen Barth Eide, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Cyprus, was also being monitored in Cyprus.

The issue is being examined by a special committee of the European Parliament, of which AKEL MEP Georgiou is vice-chairman.